THROUGH AFRICA FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO. 447 



apparatus was spoilt by the negligence of the transport company that 

 undertook its delivery. We are proud to be able to say that on one 

 single occasion only we found it necessary to take food from the 

 natives; they had all fled, and I took out ten men and cut about thirty 

 bunches of bananas. I have always believed that more can be done with 

 natives by tact and firmness than by a display of force, which makes 

 them believe that their country is threatened; and certainly they 

 nowhere imagined that we, with our ten rifles, had any warlike inten- 

 tions. On only two occasions was 1 compelled to take life, and that in 

 self-defense when actually attacked. Attacking people in case they 

 may attack you, I have seen recommended, but I think it a superfluous 

 and questionable precaution. Even the people of whom Sir Henry 

 Stanley writes, "Marching to Wadelai would only be a useless waste 

 of ammunition," I found perfectly tractable, and that although they 

 have since his visit been subjected to the disturbing influence of the 

 Belgian raid on Kavalli, and of the twent}^ rounds that i took with me 

 I found it unnecessary to use one. 



Before the reading of the paper, the president said : " This evening we have the 

 pleasure of welcoming our j oung friend Mr. Grogan, who has succeeded in making a 

 most important and interesting journey from the Cape to the Mediterranean. That 

 has been done liy him for the first time, and so far as geographical work is concerned, 

 he has nmch here to tell us, especially in the region north of Lake Tanganyika." 



After the reading of the paper, the following discussion took place: 



The President. Mr. Grogan has mentioned to me the immense importance it was 

 to him to have had such a traveling companion as Mr. Sharp, and he felt it as a 

 great loss when Mr. Sharp had to leave him to return by way of Uganda. We can 

 imagine how important it must have been on such an expedition to have a good, 

 well-tried companion. Mr. Sharp is here this evening, and perhaps he will address 

 the meeting. 



Very often great travelers are too modest to address meetings of this kind, but we 

 have present this evening the members of an international convention which, I 

 l)elieve, is assem))led hi London at present in order to take sonic international meas- 

 ures to ]irevent the total extirpation of wild animals in Africa; alreiidy three, besides 

 the quagga, are extinct. Among other delegates we ha\-e one of the greatest of Afri- 

 can travelers, Major Wissmann, and I trust that he, taking so deep an interest in Mr. 

 Grogan' s journey, will address a few words to us. 



Major Wissmann. The only fault I can find with the lecture we have just heard is 

 that it was too short. We should all have liked to have heard more details about 

 these interesting travels and observations. You can imagine how eagerly I look for- 

 ward to some detailed description, because Mr. Grogan touc-hed, going from the 

 Zambezi to the north of Tanganyika, my tracks of 1881, 1887, and 1892. We may 

 all, I think, congratulate Mr. Grogan on his great ability in dealing with the natives. 

 The idea that first journeys are always the most dangerous, is wrong; at least, I have 

 always traveled more safely where no other European or Aral) has been before me. 

 The first contact with the new civilization is not always the test for the savages. The 

 way in which Mr. Grogan has traveled through the countries of tribes bearing a 

 very bad reputation is surprising. The famous ]\Ifumbiro, which Mr. Grogan mam- 

 tains exists oulv in the imagmation of British statesmen, has been found by a German 



